It is known that the processing of data about the three-dimensional shape of a dental bridge coping may be accomplished by means of a CAD (computer-aided design) system which is part of a CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing) system. A variety of such systems are commercially available, including the LAVA system for the production of ceramic bridge copings, available from 3M ESPE AG, (Seefeld, Germany). With the LAVA system, the CAD component is connected to an optical scanner and to a NC-milling machine. The scanner captures the three-dimensional surface of a dentition impression and passes on the captured data to the CAD system. With the CAD system, the user can modify these surface data as desired, so as to draw up the three-dimensional shape of the bridge coping, and then send the corresponding shape data to the NC-milling machine. Finally, the NC-milling machine processes a zirconium oxide or zirconia ceramic blank into a desired article in accordance with the shape data.
After the milling of a zirconium blank with the LAVA system, the dental technician will typically provide the finished, milled bridge coping with a veneer in order to give the bridge the desired natural appearance. Typically, it is desirable for the connector section adjoining two neighboring bridge units to be as thin as possible, because it can interfere with the technician during the application of the veneer in the contact region between two neighboring bridge units. This is especially important for the anterior teeth, as these are considerably thinner than the posterior teeth and there is thus less space available for the veneer. However, the user must take care not to design the connector too thin or else it could create stability problems. The connector generally should be sufficiently stable to withstand the strong loadings that occur during the milling process, and also later when the patient who receives the bridge is chewing. It typically requires a great deal of experience for the dental technician to know how to achieve the right thickness of the connector to balance these various considerations. However, many dental technicians are lacking the necessary experience and costly training is often needed for them to acquire these skills.